The Chicago Foreign Language Press Survey was published in 1942 by the Chicago Public Library Omnibus Project of the Works Progress Administration of Illinois. The purpose of the project was to translate and classify selected news articles that appeared in the foreign language press from 1855 to 1938. The project consists of 120,000 typewritten pages translated from newspapers of 22 different foreign language communities of Chicago.

Illinois Staats-Zeitung -- May 03, 1871

"Der Priesterspiegel" (The Priests' Mirror), Mysteries of the Roman Catholic Church, one of the works of the late editor of "Die Fackel", S. Ludwigh, is being sold by Mr. Louis Kind, house-painter, 22 Dusold Street, in commission for the widow Ludwigh who in this way tries to provide for her family. All who would like to combine the acquisition of a book of recognized interest with a good deed, all associations, especially the Turners, the Labor Unions, etc, should please get in touch with Herr Kind.

"Der Priesterspiegel" (The Priests' Mirror), Mysteries of the Roman Catholic Church, one of the works of the late editor of "Die Fackel", S. Ludwigh, is being sold by Mr. Louis ...

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Illinois Staats-Zeitung -- June 22, 1871

Friedrich Kapp has written a book about the relations of Frederick the Great to the United States that will make him few friends either here or even in Germany. Just as Traugott Bromme in his day converted ten-thousand German emigrants to Democrats by a few sentences which he wrote in his Handbook For Emigrants on the topic of political parties, so the mischievous judgments of Kapp on America will for years to come go from hand to hand like coined money, in the educated circles of Germany, producing an attitude of disgust, or even of spitefulness. One will look down contemptuously on America, from whom, in spite of all that Kapp says, Germany still has to learn extraordinarily much that it would find useful, and very few only will bother to examine whether Kapp's judgment is based on an unprejudiced valuation of facts, or if it is colored by his subjective ill humor.

What Kapp says about the low intellectual quality of most of the American politicians is not altogether, but largely, true. However, he also finds in other than the political spheres of American life much that is "great, noble, and encouraging." Very well, then - why does he close his eyes to the observation that in America, differently from Germany, the relation of the individual to the state forms only an insignificant part of his being, 2and that it is therefore an immense injustice to compare public life here and over there. If one man wears a long overcoat that with a thousand folds envelops his whole figure, and the other prefers a short jacket - then it would be an absurdity to pity the jacket-wearer for his miserably misfitted overcoat. The German conception of the state is comparable to the heavy many-folded overcoat - the American state to a comfortable lumber-jacket hampering no movement.

Friedrich Kapp has written a book about the relations of Frederick the Great to the United States that will make him few friends either here or even in Germany. Just ...

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Illinois Staats-Zeitung -- July 12, 1871

Some decades ago the Frenchman Tocqueville, the famed author of the book Democracy in America said:"In no country of the world are there so few ignoramuses and so few scholars as in the United States, and in no country are there so many ignoramuses and so many scholars as in Germany. Even though in the formulation of this apothegm the ignorance of the French regarding everything German, and the French addiction to clever antithesis and sparkling paradox may have been active, yet it must be confessed that one might still find a kernel of truth in it. The American moves from early youth on in conditions that awaken the mind; he reads newspapers and many books; he listens to orators and public lectures. One has built here veritable altars to common sense.

Not so the Germans. The idealistic tendency that is, one might say, inborn to them, carries them all too often away from reality; their shying away from public life has been overcome only in the last few years; the German newspapers are mostly to be thanked for having brought that about. The growth of the latter(in this city particularly of the Staats Zeitung) bears witness to the fact that the German-Americans slowly begin to assimilate 2the good and beautiful things of the native Americans. One thing, however, of which the Americans have cause to be proud, the Germans in this country have not yet imitated...

The Germans in this city who count among their fellow citizens men who would do honor to the biggest and best educated cities in the German homeland, should take the initiative in the building of a big, German public library. It is true, essays in this direction have been made before; years and years ago a German reading association existed in this city, and the Workers Association had a library that though it contained only fiction, enjoyed a large and faithful circle of readers.

Perhaps, it was that the struggle for existence at that time-15 or 20 years ago- was not favorable for literary tendencies; or that the divisions among the Germans that now, happily, have largely been overcome, made a big united enterprise impossible, - at any rate the reading association had to auction off its books to pay its rent, (and the library of the Worker's Association that was burned some time ago has not yet been able to attain again its initial achievements.)

A committee of eminent, energetic and well educated Germans should be formed...That the plan would succeed we do not doubt in view of the unity and intelligence of the Germans here. Such a library would not only have a splendid influence on the Germans but on the Americans, too. To mention only one thing, one could force the American libraries, to keep also Sundays open for the reading public. In that way more would be done to stop the loitering around, shooting and public disorder than is accomplished by the police...How many German youths who now sit on Sundays mostly in the beerhall would not be happy to spend this time instead in a library with studies and pleasure-reading...

(Footnote: This article is probably a reader's contribution).

Some decades ago the Frenchman Tocqueville, the famed author of the book Democracy in America said:"In no country of the world are there so few ignoramuses and so few scholars ...

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Illinois Staats-Zeitung -- February 01, 1872

At the start of the meeting, the secretary, Mr. Carl Proebstring, being absent, Mr. Richard Michaelis was elected temporary secretary. Then the election of a board was undertaken. Mr. Georg Schneider was elected president with fourteen votes, against nine for Claussemius, three for Rosenthal. For vice president Claussemius received nineteen votes, Rosenthal three, Hesing and Grunhut, one each. Mr. Hermann Eschenburg became treasurer, and Justice of the Peace Max Eberhardt, librarian. Mr. Proebstring and Mr. Julius Rosenthal were elected corresponding secretaries.

The President, Mr. Georg Schneider, gave a short address about the death of Mr. T. G. Gindele. He said, "The Germans of Cook County and the movement for the creation of a German public library have suffered a grievous loss. He has left our association a part of his valuable collection of books.

"I knew Mr. Gindele since 1851. He was one of the few, who had the courage to start the anti-Slavery Movement. On January 29, 1854, the first meeting against Slavery took place, here in Chicago. It was a German meeting against the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Mr. Gindele belonged to the resolutions committee. The Germans in Chicago were the originators of the political agitation against Slavery."

At the start of the meeting, the secretary, Mr. Carl Proebstring, being absent, Mr. Richard Michaelis was elected temporary secretary. Then the election of a board was undertaken. Mr. Georg ...

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Illinois Staats-Zeitung -- February 05, 1872

The Freie Presse, an independent, free-minded daily will appear every day from Monday, February 5 on, at 3 P.M... It will start with a reprint of the novel"In The Bay Window", by Frank Gerstacker and a careful daily market report. Special attention will be paid to municipal affairs and city news.

Free delivery into the house, together with the illustrated Sunday paper Daheim for only 15 cents a week. Orders received at 115 W. Randolph Street.

The Freie Presse, an independent, free-minded daily will appear every day from Monday, February 5 on, at 3 P.M... It will start with a reprint of the novel"In The Bay ...

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Illinois Staats-Zeitung -- June 01, 1872

It is much to be regretted that the hope of getting German books for the Public Library has been greatly darkened due to the sterile quarrel between the German Library Association and Messrs. Dyrenfurth and Kihlholz. These two gentlemen insist on the plan to found a special German library, while the Library Association would like to put into the Public Library so strong a German department, that a special library which the Germans would have to maintain alone, would become superfluous. The point at issue is similar to the one between special German schools and the introduction of German instruction in the public schools. Here in Chicago, where the different nationalities are less antagonistic to each other than perhaps in any other American city, public opinion among the Germans has long since decided for the latter. Those do us no favor who try to single out the Germans as an isolated clique from the totality of communal life.

The founding of a special German library would paralyze the endeavors of the German directors of the Public Library to see German literature worthily represented in it, while on the other hand, it is a bet of 100 to 1 that the German library never would have more than a wretched existence.

Every German taxpayer in the city must contribute anyway, in the form of taxes, to the maintenance of the Public Library. How many would want to tax themselves besides, voluntarily, for a German library? We point to the poor experience that was shown with the German house......

It is much to be regretted that the hope of getting German books for the Public Library has been greatly darkened due to the sterile quarrel between the German Library ...

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Illinois Staats-Zeitung -- June 17, 1876

The incurable German hypochondriac Johann Becker- or, John Becker, after the Americanization of his name notwithstanding his dislike for America, published recently in Germany a thick book on the United States, painting it rather black. Things which he pointed out, are for the most part correct, but he almost exclusively depicts the sinister and dark side of America omitting the light sides altogether which he could not see during his several years of residence in this country, because his spirit was continuously gloomy.

But he was not a cursed vagabond as old Hecker speaks of him. In Chicago, where he resided for several years, he enjoyed the reputation of an honorable man. His character is faultless, but not his temperament. Of course this work was food for those of the German people whom we could call enemies of America, and Friedrich von Hellwald one of the loudest of this group provided it with a preface sparkling with malice and ignorance.

Fortunately, there are many newspapers in Germany which can discriminate between the untrue and the unjust in Becker's book, from the true and just.

The "Schwabische Merkur" of Stuttgart for instance, although true to the kaiserly German and kingly Wurttemberg ideas, pointed out that Becker's work was not impartial and with a kind of satisfaction indulged in revealing the evil conditions in America. The "Schwabische Merkur" sums up the situation by saying: "No doubt that the unpleasant things which the author said about America are gathered from singular observations and marked by correctness, but it is our belief that he went too far when speaking on this condition in general. It is known that there are honest, respectable and able business men as well as factory owners in America who can be well compared to our European men of the business world.

There are also educated American women who possess the virtues of managing a household and creating a beautiful family life. There are schools and institutions preparing the people not only for practical life, but impart knowledge and scientific research also. That Becker in his general summary omits the better classes, must be due to the fact that he did not have any contact with them. He was provileged to be in a position which brought him in touch with the people whose majority... constitutes the element of whom he speaks.

We, on our part hope that the good which is unquestionably present, is much more powerful than the author is willing to grant them, and that from such seed a generation will develop concerning itself with State and Society.

The incurable German hypochondriac Johann Becker- or, John Becker, after the Americanization of his name notwithstanding his dislike for America, published recently in Germany a thick book on the United ...

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Illinois Staats-Zeitung -- September 30, 1879

Such is the unassuming title of a work of more than three hundred pages. The book contains an almost complete collection of Caspar But'z poems. The author is a Chicagoan.

We have few poets here. Poetry, somehow, does not thrive on our American soil, and among our German-Americans there are only a few who excel. Caspar Butz belongs to this small group. It appears that fate selected him, in this land of sordid materialism, to carry on German tradition, and to remain undismayed by environment. His book gives ample evidence that he ardently dedicated himself to his work.

Every page shows inspiration and rare talent, and betrays his nostalgia for his homeland and foreign ideals, but also gives the impressions his newly adopted country has made upon his discerning mind. A true German-American, who professes profound enthusiasm for liberty as exemplified by America, and yet 2bears reverence to his native heath! He speaks of the Rhine and the vintages, the red soil, and memories of the long ago; of Germany's awakening and unity, the insolence of France and its vanquished armies, of Germany's victory and rise.

Many of his poems deal with our Civil War of 1861-65, and give a vivid picture of that period.

Here is a versatile work in which are recorded the observations of a quarter-century.

We hope that this will not be the author's only work.

Such is the unassuming title of a work of more than three hundred pages. The book contains an almost complete collection of Caspar But'z poems. The author is a Chicagoan. ...

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Chicagoer Arbeiter Zeitung -- September 18, 1880

Messrs. Max Stern, Goldsmith & Company intend publishing a book, "The History of the German-American in Chicago", carefully collected and edited from the best sources and the personal experiences of Mr. Emil Dietsch. For introduction, a detailed history of Chicago up till the year 1836 will be given, in which the editor will explain the history of the immigrant Germans; their activities and achievements in commerce, industry, politics, social life; their participation in the Civil War; foundation of their clubs, schools, churches, newspapers, etc.

The publication promises to be very exhaustive and should be a valuable edition to the history and development of the Great Northwest. The single copies only cost 25c.

Messrs. Max Stern, Goldsmith &amp; Company intend publishing a book, "The History of the German-American in Chicago", carefully collected and edited from the best sources and the personal experiences of ...